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I have a 3TB Segate Hard Drive, Model Number: ST3000DM001 that I bought a year ago that I was using as a secondary drive in my desktop. A few weeks ago I noticed that it was no longer listed under my computer. I tried using the Windows disc tool to detect it, but it found nothing. I opened the computer up and checked all of the connections, swaped some cables just to be sure, and still no detection. No detection in the BIOS either. I ended up removing the drive and placing it in a docking station to test it through USB. Same story. When powered up, the drive clicks and starts to spin, and the LED on the docking station blinks, but the computer detects nothing. I tried it on a second computer and still nothing. I tried the SeaTools Disc utility... still nothing.

I contacted Seagate and they said it sounds like a failed drive. Fortunatly I am still under waranty so they will replace it, but that does not include data recovery which could be $400 or more. I can't afford that, but before I mail the drive back for replacement I am hoping there might be some tricks I could try in efforts to recover the data.

As I said before, when in the dock I can tell the drive is powered up and spinning, I just can't get a computer to acknowledge it's plugged in. I've had drives fail before, but not like this, not in a way where the computer has no idea it's installed.